Leo Hussain burst onto the European music scene, first with his appointment as Music Director at the Landestheater Salzburg from 2009, and then making a sensational debut at Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, in a universally acclaimed new production of Ligeti Le Grand Macabre by Fura dels Baus.
He received standing ovations from the orchestra there and has subsequently been re-invited for several new productions and symphonic concerts.
Born in 1978, he received his training at Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music, and has since built up close working relationships with some of the world’s finest conductors – Rattle, Gergiev and Muti chief among them.
Leo Hussain started his operatic career in 2004 as Head of Music for English Touring Opera’s spring tours, where he conducted Figaro, The Magic Flute, Cosi fan tutte and Maria Stuarda. He has since conducted for English National Opera (Birtwistle’s Punch and Judy and Aida), Glyndebourne on Tour (La Cenerentola), Opera North (Rigoletto), Grange Park Opera (Prokofiev L’Amour de Trois Oranges) and Opera Holland Park (Cosi fan tutte). In Europe, he has been a regular visitor to the Salzburg Festival, where he has conducted Pelléas et Mélisande with the Berliner Philharmonic as Sir Simon Rattle’s assistant; Benvenuto Cellini with the Wiener Philharmoniker as assistant to Valery Gergiev; Otello and Die Zauberflöte as assistant to Riccardo Muti; Roméo et Juliette as assistant to Yannick Nézet-Séguin and he has also assisted on The Rake’s Progress at the Opéra de Paris and Götterdämmerung at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
In June 2008 Gergiev invited him to conduct Les Pêcheurs de Perles, La Damnation de Faust and Benvenuto Cellini at the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg and after sensational performances he was immediately re-invited.
On the concert stage, orchestras with which he has appeared recently include the Wiener Symphoniker, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, St Gallen Sinfonie Orchester, BBC Philharmonic, Mozarteum Orchestra, Orchestre Metropolitain de Montréal, Hamburger Symphoniker, Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia and Kyushu Symphony Orchestra, Japan. From 2008-9 Hussain was Music Director of the Newbury Choral Society, which was rejuvenated and flourished under his direction.
Future plans include Katya Kabanova directed by Andrea Breth and a series of symphonic concerts at La Monnaie; L’heure espagnole/La vida breve for Oper Frankfurt, Midsummer Night’s Dream for ENO and appearances with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, Orchestre de Nancy, BBC Symphony, BBC National Orchestra Wales and the Mozarteum Orchestra.
In his second season as Music Director (10-11) in Salzburg, he will conduct L’elisir d’amore, Don Giovanni and Powder Her Face.
Leo Hussain is represented by Intermusica.
July 2010 / 428 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.
Prokofiev The Love for Three Oranges
Grange Park Opera / dir. David Fielding
“Leo Hussain, the conductor, energises a fine English Chamber Orchestra into some high-octane playing.” Richard Fairman, Financial Times, June 2010
“Conducted by Leo Hussain and skilfully played by the English Chamber Orchestra, the music sounded fresh and clever.”
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer, June 2010
“Much of the zest comes from young conductor Leo Hussain, who whips the English Chamber Orchestra into a rat-a-tat frenzy in the brazen March and crazy-mirror Scherzo.”
Anna Picard, The Independent, June 2010
“Prokofiev's gigantic musical scherzo goes well under Leo Hussain's crisp and observant baton, its stunning repertoire of modernist paraphernalia vigorously purveyed by the English Chamber Orchestra.”
George Hall, The Guardian, June 2010
Wiener Symphoniker at the Wiener Konzerthaus
"Leo Hussain has left a business card here, on which the word 'talent' shimmers in golden letters."
Der Standard, May 2010
Puccini Tosca
Salzburger Landestheater / dir. Andre Heller-Lopes
“This was a musically successful performance, as Conductor Leo Hussain urged the orchestra to volumes and dazzling effects rarely heard in Salzburg’s Haus für Mozart.”
Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR5 Aktuell), March 2010
“The third new production of Carl Philip von Maldeghem’s first season as Intendant of the Salzburg Landestheater was musically outstanding. Music Director Leo Hussain gave a vivid performance. The Mozarteum Orchestra have been playing to the highest standards recently, pulsating with energy and a magnificent array of incredible colours.”
Salzburger Nachrichten (online), March 2010
“Music Director Leo Hussain interpreted the full force of the drama, exactly as it stood in the libretto and the score. The first night was an absolute triumph for him: this was Italian Verismo in its most glowing colours, played by the Mozarteum Orchestra in top form; crisp, bright, with occasional emotional outbursts, instinctive, yet always with precise control of the sound. Hussain also encouraged the chorus onto a powerful performance, and gave the house ensemble excellent opportunities to shine. The performance was met with rapturous applause for everyone.“
Salzburger Nachrichten (printed version), March 2010
“This was a brilliant evening at the opera, greeted with rapturous applause – and rightly so, since musically, this production of Tosca left nothing to be desired…Salzburg’s Opera Director Leo Hussain once again proved himself a conductor with a great feel for the music, and a sense for the right tempi and moods…The Mozarteum Orchestra was a highly motivated and a fantastic musical partner for Hussain: Puccini’s music was in the best of hands and voices…Anyone wishing to hear Puccini’s music movingly sung and excellently played should make sure not to miss this production.”
Salzburg ORF, March 2010
“The audience were able to enjoy opera of the highest musical standards at the opening night of Tosca on Saturday at the Haus für Mozart. It seems almost excessive to praise the orchestra again. The musicians had already received enraptured applause for The Marriage of Figaro and Der Freischütz, and it was no different for this, the third new production of the season. Under the baton of Leo Hussain, the orchestra vividly underscored the action on the stage: brass fanfares, impetuous percussion, and meditative tam-tam.”
DorfZeitung, March 2010
“Firstly, there was the Music Director of the theatre, Leo Hussain, proving himself more than just a valuable addition to the theatre, as he goes from strength to strength with each new production. He is a bubbling source of energy with explosive passion, yet he never loses sight of order, structure and shape, and who is always attentive to the singers. Then there was the Mozarteum Orchestra, who played so enchantingly and on such top form in this larger than usual formation, that the audience could hardly believe their ears. To describe the performance as incredible, magnificent, phenomenal and sensational would be no exaggeration.”
Kronenzeitung, March 2010
“Under the baton of Leo Hussain, the Mozarteum Orchestra provided the foundation and stimulus for the singers…the performance was transparent and crystal clear, almost like chamber music. Even at its fullest moments – and reaching a considerable volume – the most astonishing tonal colours shone through: the quasi exotic effect of the tam-tam, bells and organ as Scarpia sang of “the roaring falcon of your jealousy”; the menacingly deep brass in the “Te Deum” (the chorus and extra chorus easily matching the musically high standards of this production); or the Hollywood-esque opulence (with cello cantilena) in the closing duet. You could tell how much the orchestra enjoyed spurring on and fuelling the agitation on stage.”
DrehPunktKultur, March 2010
New Year’s Concert at the Grosse Festspielhaus Salzburg
Salzburger Landestheater
“The traditional Landestheater New Year’s Eve concert with the Mozarteum Orchestra was an unqualified success for the orchestra and their conductor Leo Hussain.
The orchestra played with enthusiasm and the highest musical standards under the Landesthater’s Music Director, Leo Hussain, who emphatically proved himself worthy of greater things.
Under Hussain’s lively and spirited leadership, the symphonic dances from Berstein’s West Side Story became an exciting dance tone poem about hatred, war and love; sometimes dangerously infectious with an earthy taste of rock music; at others, ardently lyrical.
Peter Maxwell Davies’ An Orkney Wedding was the apotheosis of ‘joie de vivre’, thanks to Leo Hussain, who performed it with both precision and atmosphere.
It was apparent from the start of the Fledermaus overture that this charismatic young British conductor, bravely introducing the pieces in German, wasn’t simply letting the orchestra, who were already fluent in the best of Viennese traditions, play - he was also imposing his own ideas, sensitively appropriate to the music. Take Johann Strauss’ Nordeseebilder walzes, for example. The introduction was lovingly shaped; the string of walzes breathed and changed tempo naturally; the stormy passages were far from falsely idyllic: the whole piece truly became a symphony with a walz time signature. This triumphant concert ended with the obligatory Blue Danube Walz and the Radetsky March, both sounding as if we were hearing them for the first time.”
Paul Kornbeck, Dreh Punkt Kultur, January 2010
Weber Der Freischütz
Salzburger Landestheater / dir. Annileese Miskimmon
“This production owed its success first and foremost to the high musical standards, as did Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro at the beginning of the season. At the helm of the highly attentive, audibly animated, enthusiastic, inquisitive and alert Mozarteum Orchestra, opera conductor Leo Hussain unfolded Weber’s score with smoothly organised gestures; both precise and delicate. This was not easy in the given circumstances – the small auditorium and dry acoustic – but Hussain demonstrated a superlative sense of tonal structure: with measured, remarkably agile and finely shaded tonal colour.”
Karl Harb, Salzburger Nachrichten, January 2010
“Leo Hussain’s decisive bearing confirmed the care taken in preparing and performing the piece. The Overture grabbed attention with its finely shaded details, the tonal colours that were far more than superficial, and the dramatically vivid interplay. Hussain made the most of the atmosphere, painted characterful moods using dangerously lively tempi, and the Mozarteum Orchestra, on top form, followed him through the woods and the house, the wedding feast and the dark night of fate with delicate musical commentary.”
Karl Harb, Salzburger Nachrichten, January 2010
“The second opera premiere of Salzburg Landestheather’s new season was a great success, thanks to the convincing musical performance… Under the baton of Leo Hussain, the orchestra excelled in this premiere: the horns resounded, the flutes trilled, the bassoons lamented and the violins sighed. The clarinets and oboes underlined the singing magnificently. The orchestra treated the audience to the highest standard of musical enjoyment, with vigour, momentum, passion and enthusiasm.”
Ingrid Kreiter, Dorf Zeitung, January 2010
Maxwell-Davies A Reel of Seven Fishermen
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
"a searing performance, conducted by a first-rate Leo Hussain."
Iona Bain, Herald, November 2009
Mozart Le nozze di Figaro
Salzburger Landestheater / dir. Christian Sedelmayer (Asst. Rudolf Frey & Nicole Brunner)
“The clarity in this staging came from the music – that was the true delight of this production. The new Music Director, Leo Hussain, was the real star of the evening. From the Overture onwards he negotiated every obstacle of this rich score with ease, allowing the tempi to flow naturally and delicately, and letting the music speak for itself without over-doing it. The exquisite balance of the newly formed ensemble of singers was apparent in the individual shading of the arias, the lightly pulsating pace of the ensembles, and the magnificently measured dimensions of the complicated finales of acts 2 and 4. The wonderful qualities of the Mozarteum Orchestra were also revealed; rarely have they played with such a full, tender, graceful, yet sparkling tone.“
Salzburger Nachrichten, September 2009
“The Mozarteum Orchestra and Intendant Maldeghem struck it lucky with Leo Hussain. The 31 year old British conductor coaxed a liveliness out of the orchestra that has rarely been heard from the orchestra pit of this theatre. Hussain chose fast, exciting tempi; tackling the transitions head on with ease and attention to detail, and drawing a rich variety of colours from the instrumentalists. Most of all, his attention was with the singers on stage, which is what distinguishes a good opera conductor.”
Nachrichten, September 2009
“The star of the evening was undoubtedly Leo Hussain: the British conductor led the singers and the Mozarteum Orchestra through the evening with verve. The musicians coaxed the most unexpected of colours from their instruments with liveliness and flexibility, and Hussain kept supreme control over the tempi.
In summary: it was a triumphant baptism of fire for the new singers’ ensemble; an exhilarating beginning for new Music Directorr Leo Hussain; and an exciting premiere in every sense for the Intendanz of Carl Philip Maldeghem.”
Dorfzeitung, September 2009
“The first triumph of the new Intendanz on Sunday night was undoubtedly the young Music Director Leo Hussain conducting the Mozarteum Orchestra and the ensemble of singers.
The British conductor proved his musical imagination with Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro; showing his natural feel for the drama and the tempi, and filling the orchestra and singers with enthusiasm.”
Salzburg ORF, September 2009
“…conductor Leo Hussain led the orchestra and the new ensemble of singers with a great feel for the refinements of the score… The performance was met with applause that did not want to end, celebrating the young Mozart ensemble and the music which Leo Hussain elicited from the Mozarteum Orchestra. The audience thanked the performers by scattering red roses, and leading Salzburg SPO politicians applauded without interruption right up to the very last bow – this highly successful first night of the newly defined Landestheater promises great things for the near future.”
Salzburg 24, September 2009
Ligeti Le Grand Macabre, Théâtre de la Monnaie Brussels / dir. Fura dels Baus
“It was fortunate that Leo Hussain is a conductor who knows how to be hard-hitting. He led the Orchestre de la Monnaie with his highly successful and inspiring musical interpretation of Ligeti’s score: razor-sharp and wide-awake, focussed yet flexible, imbuing every note with passion. You could feel the sense of expectation, the almost child-like anticipation of those moments in which the music changed its character altogether; for example when the celestial sounds of the dusky, deep strings representing the lovers gave way to the loud mechanical strikes signalling Nekrotar’s first entrance.”
Udo Badelt, Opernwelt, May 2009
"The Orchestre de la Monnaie have rarely been on such dazzling form as under the virile direction of English conductor Leo Hussain."
Marie-Aude Roux, Le Monde, April 2009
"The Symphony Orchestra of La Monnaie performed to the highest standard under Leo Hussain. This truly gifted young English conductor underlined the unvarnished impudence of Ligeti’s score, whilst taking great care over the sensuous tonal refinement and the technical masterstrokes in both passacaglias."
Peter Hagmann, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, March 2009
"The music was swept away by British conductor Leo Hussain galvanising his orchestral troups, with joy and vehemence of the score, and bringing out every detail of the articulation and the slightest lyrical contours. This was great art!"
Michele Friche, Le Soir, March 2009
"Young British conductor Leo Hussain, making his debut at La Monnaie, demonstrated his ease in conducting opera, his energy and his sophistication."
Martine Dumont-Mergeay, La Libre, March 2009
"Conducted with both precision and invigoration by young British conductor Leo Hussain."
Christian Merlin, Le Figaro, April 2009
"Leo Hussain conducted with admirable precision and a grasp of the opera’s theatricality."
George Loomis, New York Times, April 2009
"In the pit, young Leo Hussain regiments his troops and displays an emotional grasp that is the hallmark of more mature conductors. After a sensitively crafted final passacaglia, even the terminally depressed would be ready to dump the Prozac in the pan and pull the chain."
Francis Carlin, Financial Times, March 2009
Birtwistle Punch & Judy, ENO at the Young Vic
"Leo Hussain was in perfect control of this difficult and allusive score; plangent, percussive and, at times, hauntingly lyrical."
Opera Now, July 2008
Berlioz Benvenuto Cellini, Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg
"The difficult score of Berlioz was performed by Hussain as if by request of the composer himself - with dynamics, grace, virtuosity and passion."
Vedemosti of St Petersburg, June 2008
Rathauskonzert, Hamburger Symphoniker
"Leo Hussain brought out the orchestra’s warm tone, imbued with a soft and silky piano shimmer, and a clear sense of shaping. The young guest conductor proved himself to be a sensitive and charismatic person, who had clearly built up a close rapport with the orchestra over the space of just a few rehearsals for this, his Hamburg debut."
Die Welt, August 2007